Unexpected Places
by amberdowny
Summary: Because of the evil Mrs. Hayfer, Drake is stuck doing a project with that dorky Josh Nichols. But it turns out to be not so bad after all...AU.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Unexpected Places

Author: SP

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider and whoever else own everything.

Rating: K+ for now

Pairing: It's pretty gen at the moment.

Summary: Because of the evil Mrs. Hayfer, Drake is stuck doing a project with that dorky Josh Nichols. But it turns out to be not so bad after all…AU.  
Author's Notes: Okay. This isn't finished. My first chaptered D&J! Unfortunately, I SUCK at updating. I'll do my best, though. Put this at S3 age/appearance-wise.

Checking his watch, Drake hurried into Mrs. Hayfer's English class. He did _not_ want to be late again. He didn't want another detention, another trip to remedial English, or another lecture and grounding from his mother. He darted through the door with a whole minute to spare and slid into his seat beside Josh Nichols.

Josh smiled brightly at him. "Good morning, Drake."

"Hey," Drake muttered back, without smiling. It wasn't that he disliked Josh. He was actually a hard person to dislike. But he was just so…dorky. Drake estimated that his coolness would drop by like thirty percent if he was friends with Josh.

"Good morning, class," Mrs. Hayfer greeted the class as she walked into the room. "Drake?"

Drake jumped, then, already knowing what Mrs. Hayfer's next words would be, he replied, "Yeah?"

"I hate you."

Drake sighed. "I know."

Mrs. Hayfer nodded, satisfied, then went on, "So, the end of the semester is coming up in a month. I'm sure you can guess what that means."

"Mid-term projects!" Josh squealed.

Mrs. Hayfer smiled at Josh. "Correct. We have just completed a biography of Shakespeare, and you all _should_ have turned in a half-page mini-biography of a family member." She paused and glared at Drake.

__

That is so unfair! Drake fumed. _I did turn that in! And I even actually spent like a whole two hours on it!_

"And so now, I have assigned you each a partner. You will write your partner's biographies, in at least six pages. Obviously, this means you will spend a great deal of time with your partner and get to know them quite well. You will turn in three drafts over the next month. Further instructions, as well as the list of partners and grading rubric, is on this handout." She held up the pile, then passed them out.

Drake scanned his copy. He hoped he'd be paired with someone hot, someone he wouldn't mind getting closer to. He barely bit back a groan when he saw, at the bottom of the column of names, _Drake Parker/Josh Nichols_. Great.

He turned to look at Josh, and found Josh grinning back. "Hey partner," he said, when Drake's eyes met his.

"Hey," Drake replied listlessly, for the second time that day.

--

At the end of class, when Drake would normally bolt out the door, Josh held him back with a hand on his elbow. "Drake, so I'm thinking you should come over tonight so we can at least make a schedule for working on this project."

Drake had never been so glad to have a little sister as he was then. "I can't, my mom is going out on a date, and I have to watch my little sister, Megan."

"Oh…all right then." Josh looked so crestfallen that Drake felt a stab of regret.

"I guess you could come over to my place," he offered reluctantly.

Josh smiled. "Okay, cool. You live in the big house next to the Carmichaels', right?"

Drake nodded. "Uh, yeah. Why don't you come over at six, six-thirty?"

"Okay. See you then!" Josh left the classroom, leaving Drake a little stunned in his wake. Where did Josh get his enthusiasm?

--

Drake had just pulled a frozen pizza out of the oven for himself and Megan for dinner when the doorbell rang. Drake set the pan on the stove and checked the time. 6:15. It had to be Josh.

"Dinner's on the stove," he called to Megan, who was watching TV in the living room. Then he crossed to the front door and opened it. Just as he expected, he found Josh, wearing a backpack and an uncertain smile.

"Hi," Josh said. He glanced at Drake's hands. "Um…am I interrupting dinner or something?"

Drake looked down himself, blushed, and yanked the floral-print oven mitt off his left hand. "We were about to eat, but it's all right. You're right on time." He stood back and allowed Josh to enter the house. "Have you eaten?" he asked, returning to the kitchen to put away the oven mitt.

"Yeah, just before I came over here," Josh replied.

"You don't mind if I eat while we schedule, do you?" Drake asked, realizing he was more comfortable with the other boy away from all the eyes at school.

Josh shook his head.

"Okay. Let me just grab a plate, then we can go up to my room." Drake pulled a plate from the cupboard, piled two slices of pizza on it, then looked out the pass-through window. He was relieved to see Megan sitting on the couch, eating pizza like a normal little eleven-year-old girl. "Megan, this is Josh." Josh waved. "We're going up to my room to work on a school project."

"Whatever," Megan replied.

Drake shrugged and led Josh upstairs to his room.

"Wow, cool room," Josh said, looking around at all the posters, license plates, and guitars.

"Thanks," Drake answered, sitting on the couch. He gestured to the seat beside him, and Josh sat after taking off his backpack. As Josh pulled out a notebook and the project description sheet, Drake took a huge bite of pizza.

"So, the first draft of this project is due in two weeks," Josh began, consulting the sheet. "We should probably start right away. Do you have a job or anything that we have to plan around?"

Drake sighed. Right, Josh was really into school. He supposed he had better actually put some effort into this project, so that he wouldn't bring Josh down with him. "Well, I have a band, but I'm missing a drummer right now, so we're not rehearsing. If I get a drummer, we might start rehearsing again."

Josh nodded thoughtfully, sucking on the end of his pen. "Okay, and do you have to watch Megan a lot?"

"Only sometimes when Mom goes out. She stays by herself a lot of the time, just not at night. I can't plan that, though. Mom has this on-and-off relationship with this weatherman. I think she only likes him for his hair, actually…"

"Bruce Winchell?" Josh asked.

Drake looked surprised. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"My dad's the weatherman on channel 7," Josh replied. "He always talks about how more people watch Bruce Winchell because he has good hair."

Drake suppressed a laugh. "That's too bad."

Josh shrugged. "Well, you know. Okay, so I work at the Premiere four days this week--Wednesday through Saturday--and four next week--Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. So…would you mind coming down to the Premiere to work on this during my shift?"

"I wouldn't mind. What's to mind about a movie theater full of candy and hot girls?"

For some reason, Josh deflated a little. "Right. Then…I know school isn't your thing, but what if we met every day after school this week and next week, and on Saturday this week? That gives us five days each to interview each other. Then we could probably not see as much of each other the last two weeks--just to check facts and stuff. It'll make writing the biographies easier if we have all the information to start with."

"Sounds good," Drake agreed, sighing again. There went ten days of free time, devoted to school instead.

Josh looked apologetic. "I just really want to get a good grade on this assignment, y'know?"

"Yeah," Drake answered. "So, do you want to do me first, or should I do you?"

Again acting weird, Josh blushed a little. "Um, maybe we should alternate? That way, we both have about the same amount of time to work on the first draft with the same amount of information."

"All right. So, you wanna ask me stuff tomorrow, and then I'll ask you stuff on Wednesday?"

"Sure. Do you want me to come here again tomorrow, or do you want to come to my house, or should we meet somewhere else?"

"I'll go to your place. Right after school?"

Josh nodded. "Yeah, that works. On Wednesday, my shift at the Premiere starts at four, so you could go there about four-thirty?"

"Cool. We can figure out other times then, right?"

Josh nodded again. "Yeah."

"Okay, I guess we're all set." Drake looked out the window. "It's raining," he announced. "You just rode your bike over, didn't you?" he asked, recalling seeing one leaning against the house.

"Yeah," Josh groaned.

"Well, you can stay here until it stops, or until my mom gets home, and then she can drive you. I'm not gonna make you go home in the rain."

Josh laughed. "That's good news! Listen Drake, I know you're not overly excited about being partnered together." Drake tried to protest, but Josh just shook his head. "No, I know we hang out at totally different ends of the popularity spectrum. But I'm kind of interested in getting to know you, too. We've been going to school together since seventh grade, and we don't know each other at all."

Drake wasn't quite sure how to respond.

"Um, yeah, so…" Josh trailed off, looking kind of embarrassed.

"You have a point," Drake said hastily. "About not knowing each other. This might actually be an okay assignment." He gave Josh a smile.

Josh smiled back. "Definitely."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Unexpected Places 2/?

Author: SP

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider and whoever else own everything. Drake and Josh own their own birthdays, and Josh owns his middle name.

Rating: K+

Pairing: still kinda gen

Summary: Because of the evil Mrs. Hayfer, Drake is stuck doing a project with that dorky Josh Nichols. But it turns out to be not so bad after all…AU.  
Author's Notes: They completely pwned me. I did not mean for this to happen this way.

The next day, Josh greeted Drake with a smile and a "Good morning, Drake!"

Drake, feeling as though he had déjà vu, quickly replied, "Morning," and then turned his attention to Monica, the girl who sat in front of him. "Heeey, Monica," he began.

She turned around and gave him a flirty smile. "Hey, Drake," she replied with a giggle.

"So, I was thinking that after school today we should go--"

Before Drake could say where they should go, Josh interrupted. "Drake!"

Drake turned and scowled at the other boy. "What?" he snapped.

Josh looked hurt, and said softly, "We were going to work on our project today."

Drake groaned. "Oh yeah." He turned back to Monica. "Well, I was going to say that we should go see a movie, but I have to work on this stupid biography assignment." Drake very deliberately didn't look at Josh as he said that. Yeah, he'd said only last night that the assignment would be okay, but he had coolness to uphold.

Monica, looking as though she felt very sorry for him, replied with a pout, "Already?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we could go tomorrow," Monica suggested, with another flirty smile.

Josh started to say something, but Drake didn't let him. "Yeah, let's go tomorrow. We--"

The bell rang, and Mrs. Hayfer entered the classroom. "Good morning, class. Today we're going to…"

Drake stopped paying attention and pulled out his notebook to add to his doodles. He started working on a picture of Mrs. Hayfer falling into a chasm. After completing Mrs. Hayfer herself and the sides of the crevasse, and before adding the sharp rocks at the bottom, Drake finally glanced sideways at Josh. He felt kind of bad about completely forgetting the project. Josh still looked hurt. Drake guessed it was because he had set up a date for the next day. He knew they were supposed to work on the project then, but Josh did say he was working at the Premiere tomorrow. Drake figured he could multitask, and work with Josh and make out with Monica at the same time. Well, not at the _exact_ same time…Monica came first.

Drake spent the rest of the period lost in a steamy fantasy, sharp rocks forgotten.

--

After school, Drake took about ten steps confidently down the street, and then stopped as he realized he had no idea where Josh actually lived. He knew it was somewhere sort of close by, because he'd seen Josh walking in before, whereas Drake lived far enough that he had to catch a ride unless he wanted to leave at least forty-five minutes early. But knowing that wasn't helping him get to Josh's house.

He turned around as he heard the _tick-tick-tick_ of a bicycle being walked down the street, hoping it would be Josh.

It was, and he came to stop when he drew even with Drake. "You don't know where you're going, do you?" he asked quietly.

"Not really," Drake admitted.

"I figured. Come on, you were at least headed in the right direction." And Josh started walking.

Drake bit his lip as he watched, then hurried to catch up. "Are you okay?" he blurted out.

Josh glanced at him, but didn't slow down. "Sure," he answered, still sounding subdued.

"Really?"

Josh sighed, started walking faster. "I know I'm sort of invisible, but I didn't think I was quite so forgettable."

Drake winced. "Josh--"

"I'm used to being ignored, especially by you, but we just planned to work on this yesterday."

Drake had to jog now to keep up with Josh's longer strides. "I know--"

"And if you didn't want to do this, you should have just said so," Josh continued. "Instead of lying and saying you would enjoy working together."

"I didn't lie to you!" Drake shot back.

"Oh really? Then why did you tell _Monica_ that you had to work on the 'stupid biography project' all the while sounding like there was nothing you'd rather do less?" The amount of venom in Josh's voice at Monica's name was really quite astounding, considering how nice a guy Josh was, Drake thought.

"I--you're not--Monica--I have to--" Drake changed his mind every time he started to speak. Everything he thought of saying would probably just hurt Josh more. "It's the spectrum thing," he said finally, recalling what Josh had said the night before.

"Right," Josh said, a bitter smile crossing his face. "Of course. You can't be seen actually having a real conversation with me, or your coolness will drop by twenty percent, right?"

"Thirty," Drake replied, without thinking.

Josh pressed his lips together and sped up even more.

Drake felt like slapping himself. "Josh, wait, that wasn't what I meant."

Josh shook his head. "No, I get it. Let's just get this done."

The rest of the walk to Josh's house was done in silence. When they arrived, Josh pointed to the kitchen table. "Sit."

Drake obeyed.

Josh retrieved the notebook from the night before, then sat opposite him.

"Basics first," he said shortly. "Full name?"

"Drake Parker."

Josh paused before writing it down. "Middle name?"

"No."

Josh looked up. "No you're not telling me, or no you don't have one?"

"Don't have one."

Josh looked back at his notebook. "Birthday?"

Drake sighed. "June 27."

"Family?"

Drake frowned. "I know you're probably talking to me as little as possible, but please stop with the one-and-two-word questions."

"Who's in your immediate family?" Josh clarified, glaring over his notebook.

Drake dropped his eyes. "My mom Audrey Parker and my little sister Megan Parker."

"Closest friends?"

Drake refrained from pointing out that Josh was doing it again. "I don't really have friends."

Josh raised an eyebrow. Drake was impressed for about a second--that was actually a really neat skill. But then Josh started talking. "Oh really? You don't have friends. Funny, I thought you were super-popular and all that."

Drake shook his head. "No, I am. But…none of the people around me are real, y'know? Not one of them really knows anything about me." He paused thoughtfully. "Maybe Trevor does. He's been my friend since like eighth grade. But I still wouldn't consider him close to me."

Josh looked up from his notes. "Really?" he asked, sounding curious despite himself.

"Yeah," Drake admitted. "I bet you have real friends."

Josh immediately nodded. "Completely."

"Well, some days I think that I'd trade my huge group for three or four real friends any time. Other times, I think I'm happy with what I have. And _other_ times, I just wish there was one person who really got me. You have someone who gets you, right?"

"I do," Josh replied. "Mindy is like my best friend."

Drake unintentionally wrinkled his nose. "Mindy Crenshaw?"

"Do you have a problem with her?" Josh asked testily.

"Yeah, but no bigger than the one she has with me. We have a mutual dislike."

"I knew that," Josh said. "She's tried to stop badmouthing you since--" Josh stopped speaking abruptly.

Attributing it to Josh's anger, Drake asked hesitantly, "Aren't you two dating?"

Josh shook his head. "We broke up awhile ago."

"Sorry."

"I'm not. We're better as friends. For lots of reasons." Josh shrugged.

Drake frowned, trying to figure it out. "So…she's your ex, but she's also your best friend?"

"I take it you're not friendly with any of your exes?"

"Pfft, I'm barely friendly with my current girlfriends. I told you, none of it is real." Drake felt suddenly self-conscious. "Hey…you're not going to put any of this in your biography, are you?"

Josh sized Drake up. "No," he said finally, "not if you don't want me to. As long as you do the same for me. Nothing we don't want written gets written. Deal?"

"Deal," Drake agreed immediately. Then, tentatively, "Look, I'm sorry about forgetting we were working on this project today. And--"

Before Drake could finish, Josh interrupted, "Did you forget, or were you just trying to separate yourself from me? You know, to keep your coolness rating from dropping thirty percent?"

Drake flinched. "I honestly forgot. You'll probably find out that I'm terrible with that kind of thing. And also, before you interrupted, I was going to say I'm sorry for my attitude. And making a date tomorrow, but I guess I thought it would work out--you work at the Premiere, I'd take Melissa there. I could multitask."

"Monica," Josh said.

Drake tilted his head slightly. "Huh?"

"You said you'd take Melissa there. But you asked out Monica."

Drake colored faintly. "Oh."

"You really don't care about the girls you date as individuals, do you? It's all about making out and getting as many as you can."

Drake suddenly became very interested in the tabletop. "I guess so."

"You don't make much sense, Drake. You say you wish you had real friends. But the sort of people that would be real friends to you are the kind of people you avoid for being uncool."

Drake shrugged wordlessly.

Josh sighed. "I accept your apology. Besides, if we're going to do this project right, we need to at least be civil to each other."

"Right," Drake agreed.

"Okay then. So, what--"

"Josh?" Drake interjected.

Josh stopped in the middle of his next question. "What, Drake?"

"If it wouldn't work for you, then that's okay, but do you think we could--talk, like we were actually having a conversation? I feel kind of weird just answering your questions."

Josh glanced down at his notebook. "I guess so. But that eliminates our alternating system."

Drake shrugged. "That's okay. We'll both find stuff out about each other at the same time. It'll work."

"Only if you take notes too," Josh replied, tearing out a piece of notebook paper and pushing it toward Drake, along with a pen.

Drake made a face, but picked up the pen. "So, what do you have about me so far? My name and birthday and family? Give me yours."

"Joshua Michael Nichols, November 10, and my dad Walter Nichols," Josh rattled off.

Drake scribbled furiously. When he was finished, he said, "And you asked me about my friends. Tell me about yours."

"Well, there's Mindy, of course. I told you about her. And since you hate her, I guess you must know something about her."

Drake tried to defend himself, "She hates me too!"

Josh smiled. "Oh, I know."

"Actually, you were saying something earlier--about how she's stopped badmouthing me? What were you going to say?" Drake asked curiously.

Josh blushed. "It doesn't matter."

"Sure it does," Drake protested.

Josh shook his head. "No, you really don't need to know."

Suddenly, a look of horror crossed Drake's face. "Just please tell me she doesn't have a crush on me."

"_She_ doesn't," Josh muttered.

"So who does?" Drake asked with interest.

Josh, sounding sort of panicked, quickly answered, "What? No one. Or well, someone probably does. But I don't know."

Drake frowned. "Okay…so, hey, if you and Mindy broke up, does she have another boyfriend?"

"Not that I know of. I think I kind of broke her heart, actually."

"And you're still friends?"

"Well, it wasn't my fault. She understands."

"Do you have another girlfriend?"

For some reason, Josh scoffed. "Ha, no. That's not going to happen."

Drake was never very good at reassuring people. "You'll find someone else."

"I'm sure I will find someone," Josh replied. "Just--anyway, you asked about my friends, but we've only talked about Mindy. There's also Craig and Eric."

Drake nodded. "Oh yeah, they're those two nerds, right? No offense," he added quickly.

Josh grinned. "We're all nerds and we know it. It's okay. So yeah, they are. They're great. Sometimes talking to them is like talking to--I don't know, my elderly neighbors, but they're both really good at seeing a situation objectively."

Confused, Drake asked, "Why is talking to them like talking to old people?"

"Not old people so much as an old married couple," Josh clarified.

"Are they?"

"Are they what?"

"A couple."

Josh made a movement suddenly, the sort people make when they let things slip by mistake. "Um, no."

Drake smirked. "Has anyone ever told you you're a terrible liar?"

Josh sighed in resignation. "All the time. You're not going to tell anyone, are you? They don't want anyone to know. And do you mind?"

Drake shook his head. "My philosophy is that if someone makes you happy, you should be together, whether it's a girl or a guy. Doesn't matter. And I won't tell. I understand secrets."

"Yeah? So you have a lot of them?"

Drake shrugged. "Sort of. Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll find out a few of them." And he winked.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Unexpected Places 3/?

Author: SP

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider and whoever else own everything.

Rating: K+

Pairing: one-sided Josh/Drake at this point, pretty clearly.

Summary: Because of the evil Mrs. Hayfer, Drake is stuck doing a project with that dorky Josh Nichols. But it turns out to be not so bad after all…AU.  
Author's Notes: I'm convinced that all D&J fans are night owls. Or they live in Australia. Because most of my conversations with the rest of you take place after 11.30 pm.

After spending two afternoons with Josh Nichols, Drake was convinced that there was something weird with him. Well, aside from everything that he was pretty open about, like his love of magic tricks and general dorkiness. But the dorkiness was growing on Drake.

No, what Drake was starting to notice was that Josh started acting weird whenever Drake brought up girls. When he added this to yesterday's conversation about whether Mindy Crenshaw had a crush on him, the answer Drake got was not pretty.

Mindy _did_ have a crush on him. It all made sense. Of course Mindy would have told Josh, and Josh would have been sworn to secrecy. Since Josh had broken up with Mindy to start with, he'd be hoping they'd get together.

Drake was terrified. He also thought he'd better rid Mindy of that crush as soon as possible.

Even if it meant talking to her civilly.

And that was how Drake ended up going to the Loser Table at lunchtime on Wednesday. At one end, he found Josh, Mindy, and Craig and Eric, all talking about something he didn't actually understand.

"Um, hi?" he said, to attract someone's attention.

All four of them looked up. "Hey Drake," Josh replied. "What's up?"

"Uh, I was wondering if I could talk to Mindy for a sec?"

Mindy looked surprised, and also like she was biting her tongue. "What do you want?"

Drake thought fast. "Uh, I just wanted to ask you a couple quick questions about Josh. For our biography project.

Josh looked pleased. "Go on, Mindy. Be nice."

Mindy sighed, but she rose from her seat and followed Drake over to a neighboring table. "What do you want to know?"

"Nothing about Josh, actually. But he said some stuff, and even though he said it wasn't true, I had to check--you don't like, have a crush on me, do you?"

A disgusted look crossed Mindy's face. "Uh, _ew_," she replied. "Why would I ever have a crush on an underachiever like you?"

"That was what I thought," Drake shot back. "Um, minus the insult toward me."

Mindy rolled her eyes. "Now, what did Josh say that you managed to construe as me liking you?"

"Well, he said you were best friends, and he acted really weird whenever I talked about hot girls, and when I asked whether you had a crush on me--he said you'd stopped badmouthing me--he got all stuttery and-and weird."

Mindy shook her head. "You're an idiot. No, _I_ don't have a crush on you." She spun around and walked back to the table, skirt flaring around her hips.

"Thanks!" Drake called after her. Then he went to take care of some other business.

--

At four twenty-five that afternoon, Drake strolled into the Premiere. He spotted Josh working at the candy counter and walked over, leaning against it when he got there. "Hey," he said to Josh, who had his back turned, organizing candy bars.

Josh jumped and spun around. "Oh, Drake. What time is Monica meeting you?" he asked flatly.

"She isn't," Drake answered. "I canceled."

"Why?"

"Because we're supposed to be working on our project at four-thirty. Remember?"

A smile spread across Josh's face. "Of course. Unlike some people, I can remember things from day to day."

Drake mock-pouted, but couldn't keep it up for long. Josh's smile was contagious, and soon he was smiling himself. "All right, all right. So, any burning questions for me?"

"Yeah, actually. Tell me about your music."

Drake's grin widened. "It's pretty much everything to me right now. I really want to make a career out of it, y'know? Get a record deal, top 40 hits, everything. Right now though, I'm just kind trying to become well-known around here. I play some small gigs. Win the talent show every year, it seems like. But like I told you on Monday, I don't have a drummer right now, so we're actually not doing anything."

"So how long have you been with your band?" Josh asked.

Drake chewed his lip thoughtfully. "Actually, none of the original members are left, but I started the band when I was fourteen."

"You're good," Josh offered. "I've heard you sing a few times."

"Thanks. So, since we're talking about music…what's your favorite band?"

Josh thought for a minute. "I guess I'd have to say The Hailstones. How about you?"

"Zero Gravity," Drake answered immediately. "No contest. Devon Malone--he's the guitarist--is amazing. He's awesome with a guitar and really good-looking too. I learned so much about playing from watching him."

"Yeah?" Josh grabbed a napkin and a pen and wrote something down. "I forgot my notebook," he said by way of explanation. "So, how'd you start playing guitar, anyway? Lessons or something?"

Drake shook his head. "No, I taught myself when I was nine. I had an old acoustic guitar in my room--my dad gave it to me before he left--and one day I just started fooling around with it."

Josh looked unsure of himself. "Um, so…"

Drake sighed. "You want to know about my dad, right? I've never talked about him to anyone."

"All right, I won't ask," Josh said.

"Next time we meet at one of our houses, I'll tell you. Um, maybe. Just definitely not here, all right?"

"Whatever you feel comfortable with," Josh replied.

Drake's smile returned. "So, what about you? Do you play an instrument? You don't happen to play drums, do you?"

Josh laughed. "Sorry! No, I'm sort of musically challenged. I can't even sing."

"Everyone can sing," Drake admonished. "Some just do it better than others," he added with an impish look.

"Yeah, right. What did you ask Mindy about me today?"

Drake knew that Josh appreciated honesty, so he didn't lie. "I didn't actually ask her about you. I kind of didn't believe you when you said she didn't have a crush on me. So I asked her about it."

"What'd she say?" Josh asked, looking apprehensive.

"Well, first she said I was an idiot," Drake answered contemplatively, "then she said that _she_ didn't have a crush on me." Drake realized that Josh had put that same stress on 'she' the day before. Why did everyone keep doing that?

"Oh."

"And then I went and canceled my date with Mich--Monica. Hey, I caught myself."

Josh replied dryly, "Bravo. You got the name of your date right."

"Are you still upset about yesterday?" Drake wanted to know.

"A little," Josh admitted, "but I'm more upset about you using girls and dating anything female that moves. It's not good for you, and it's not fair to them."

Drake fidgeted self-consciously. "Maybe not. But it's a reputation thing."

"Are you sure you don't just have commitment issues?" Josh asked, half-teasing half-serious.

"Pretty sure that I don't," Drake retorted.

Josh nodded in understanding. "So you're just a nymphomaniac, then?" Drake looked lost, so Josh explained, "Obsessed with sex. And um, usually used to describe a woman."

Drake stuck his tongue out at Josh, then responded, with dignity, "No, I'm not obsessed with sex, thank you very much. For your information, I've only slept with two girls. And _don't_ put that in your biography!"

"Mrs. Hayfer wouldn't be impressed," Josh agreed.

"Let me guess, you've never, right?"

Josh shrugged noncommittally.

"Was that a yes shrug or a no shrug?"

No answer.

"Ah, that's a no shrug," Drake announced. Then, more seriously, he added, "It's nothing to be ashamed of. Kind of good, actually."

"Not that I haven't had the opportunity," Josh mumbled.

"With Mindy?"

"Yeah. That was when I broke up with her and told her that I wasn't actually attracted to--her."

Drake winced. "Ouch."

"I went on to say that there was someone else I liked, and if I slept with her it wouldn't have been fair to either of us," Josh said.

"Do you still? Like the other person?"

Josh nodded.

"Have you slept with them?"

Josh laughed. "Yeah, right."

"Kissed?"

"No."

"Asked out?"

"No."

"Have you _talked to_ them at least?"

"Yeah."

Drake made a relieved sound. "Good, at least you've done something. Why haven't you done more?"

"They wouldn't feel the same."

Now the sound Drake made was one of irritation. "Have you asked?"

"No!"

"Then how do you know?" Drake asked reasonably.

"I highly doubt y-he's--" Josh stopped, looking horrified.

Drake was equally shocked. Then, carefully, he asked, "He?"

"Yeah, he," Josh replied, regaining a little color.

Drake nodded once. "So you're gay?"

"Shh!" Josh hissed, looking around the nearly-empty theater lobby. "But yes." He waited for Drake's response, still looking apprehensive.

After a minute, Drake smiled. "Hey, I told you, whatever makes you happy."

Josh smiled back, nervously. "You're the first person, aside from Mindy and Craig and Eric, that I've come out to."

"I am? Well, I'm honored, I guess," Drake answered. Then, "Oh shit!"

"What?"

"What time is it?"

"Almost six, why?"

Drake began walking backward toward the door. "I have to jet. Mom's going out again. When does your shift end tomorrow?"

Josh checked the schedule posted near the popcorn machine. "Eight."

"Can you come over then?"

Josh nodded. "Yeah, sure."

"Okay. See you then." Drake turned and headed to the exit in a traditional manner. "Oh, and Josh?" he called back, turning again.

"Yeah?"

"Don't think I'm running away from you because of…what you said. I'm not."

Josh waved. "I know. You better get home."

"Yeah." He lingered a moment more, then left.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Unexpected Places 4/?

Author: SP

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider and whoever else own everything.

Rating: K+

Pairing: one-sided(?) Josh/Drake.

Summary: Because of the evil Mrs. Hayfer, Drake is stuck doing a project with that dorky Josh Nichols. But it turns out to be not so bad after all…AU.  
Author's Notes: Uh-oh, I'm getting to the point where I don't know how to get to the end…

Drake hadn't lied to Josh. Not about anything. In fact, he'd been more honest with Josh than he was with anyone else in his life, including his mother. (Which was weird, because they'd only been working on this project for five days so far. Josh was supposed to come over later that night, Saturday, too. So it would be six days. ) Drake was sure that Josh hadn't ever lied to him either. As he'd told him, Josh was a terrible liar.

But it was looking more and more like he might have to start lying to Josh. Some of their conversations were getting a little bit too close to Drake's well-kept secrets. Some of the secrets he didn't think he'd much mind telling, at least to Josh. But others? No way was he spilling them, to _anyone_.

Just in case they got out.

Not that Drake thought Josh would run and tell everyone things Drake asked him not to. But he couldn't be completely sure.

--

At eight-fifteen, the doorbell rang. Drake jumped up from the couch to answer it. He pulled the door open to reveal Josh, still wearing the pale blue shirt (unbuttoned, showing the white T-shirt underneath) and black pants that were his work uniform.

"Drake? Who is it?" Audrey asked from the kitchen, before Drake could say anything to Josh.

"It's Josh. He's a friend from school," Drake answered, ignoring Josh's raised eyebrow. "We're working on an English project together."

Audrey left the kitchen, eyebrows matching Josh's.

Josh stepped forward, extending his hand. "Hello, Mrs. Parker. It's great to meet you."

Audrey shook his hand. "You too, Josh. What kind of a project are you guys working on?"

"A biography," Josh answered. "We're supposed to interview each other and then write a six-page biography."

"Like a follow-up to that one I wrote about you," Drake added.

"Oh, all right," Audrey said, looking impressed. "Have fun."

"We will," Drake replied, and then led the way up to his room. When the door had closed behind him, he turned to Josh. "Okay, how did you do that? She definitely didn't believe me about the project, and all you had to do was introduce yourself."

Josh shrugged. "Parents love me," he answered simply.

"Lucky," Drake muttered.

Josh laughed. "I guess you have to deal with a lot of overprotective fathers, huh?"

Drake shook his head. "Not as many as you might think. Most of the time, I don't get to the 'meet the parents' stage with a girl." He sat on the couch as before, and Josh joined him without waiting for an invitation this time.

"I don't know whether to be jealous or incredulous," Josh mused. "Incredulous because of your short dating time, or jealous because the '"meet the parents stage"' is not fun at all."

"Really?" Drake asked. "Funny, I always found it really easy."

"Well, you weren't trying to impress Mindy Crenshaw's parents. It was even more painful because I knew it was kind of for nothing."

Drake nodded. "Yeah, I could see that."

"Have you started writing the biography yet?" Josh wondered, changing the subject.

Drake scoffed. "Yeah right."

Josh rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Of course not, what was I thinking?"

"So you have."

"Actually, I haven't."

Drake attempted to raise one eyebrow and failed. "You haven't?"

Josh, who had bitten his lip to stop from laughing at Drake's weird face, shook his head wordlessly, still trying not to crack up. Then, getting himself under control, he asked, "What was that face about?"

Drake muttered, embarrassed, "I was trying to raise one eyebrow."

Josh smiled knowingly. "Ah. It's a widely-envied skill."

"I bet. Anyway…I'm surprised you haven't started yet."

Josh shrugged. "I tried. I didn't know enough yet."

"Well, what did you need to know?" Drake asked, pretty sure this was where the questions about his father would start. It hadn't come up again since Wednesday.

"Whatever you feel like telling me about your childhood would be helpful," Josh suggested.

"Hm." Drake thought about what to say. "It was pretty much like every other childhood in the world. I was the spoiled only child until I was four, and then Megan was born. I was the jealous-slash-protective older brother then. When I was eight, Megan started showing her evil tendencies. When I was nine, my dad left. I spent a year adjusting to that. Then when I was twelve, I discovered that girls didn't have cooties."

Josh tried to turn a laugh into a cough. "Could I get some elaboration on Megan's 'evil tendencies?'"

"She's evil," Drake said flatly. "She plays pranks on me all the time, and half the time, I don't know how she does it. She's like an evil _genius_. Oh, and she always gets away with it."

"I'll believe that, but how does a four year old show evil tendencies?"

Drake thought for a minute, trying to come up with examples. Finally, he recalled an often-repeated story his mother liked to tell about him. "Okay, when I was eight, I was at a Padres game, right? I was standing in line to buy a Foam Finger, and me and this kid behind me were talking. Then, after I bought the last one, the other kid turned around to yell to his dad. Megan threw a cookie, and it hit him in the head. He thought I thumped him, so--"

"He attacked you and you rolled around on the ground and the concession guy with the eye patch yelled for the cops?"

Drake frowned and nodded slowly. "Yeah…how'd you kn--it was _you_?" he asked incredulously.

It was Josh's turn to nod. "Yeah. Wow, eight years late, I'm sorry."

Drake laughed. "It's okay. I was all--what's the word, indignant?--and she explained that she'd seen Megan throw a cookie, but she couldn't get to us in time to stop us. Now she pulls that story out every time the relatives get together."

Josh shook his head in disbelief. "It was all because of a cookie?"

"Maybe you were really just mad that I got the last Foam Finger," Drake suggested, a teasing grin spreading across his face.

"It's possible," Josh agreed, "but I needed a reason to attack you. My dad raised me to behave."

Drake knew it wasn't his business, but he asked anyway. "You don't mention your mom…are your parents divorced, too?"

Josh shook his head. "No. My mom died when I was about three. She had cancer. I don't really remember her. Whenever I smell lilacs, I have this sort of half-memory, of the sensation of flying, like on a swing." He ducked his head, looking embarrassed. "I don't know what that's about. I guess I just associate lilacs with her."

"They say that smell is the most memory-triggering sense," Drake answered. Then, affected by Josh's honesty and openness, he began, "My dad just walked out on us when I was nine. I guess he and my mom had had problems for years, but of course I never noticed. I always felt like he left because of something I had done. We spent a lot of time together--I'd follow him around all the time, and he'd take me with him whenever he went anywhere that wasn't work. I was really close to him. So when he just left, I was devastated. I didn't talk to my mom about it. I just kept everything to myself. She made me start seeing a therapist, since I wouldn't open up. But after I figured out that guitar, music became my real therapy." Drake blushed. "Um. I've never told anyone that before. Maybe…just stick to the minimum in the biography? Like, say that my dad left when I was nine and leave it at that?"

"Of course," Josh replied. "And thank you for telling me about it. You didn't have to."

Drake shrugged, pseudo-casually. "Well, we're friends, right? Friends are honest with each other."

Slowly, a smile spread across Josh's face. "You weren't just saying that to your mom?"

"Huh?"

"About us being friends," Josh clarified.

"No, I really think I meant it. Josh, you know more about me than any of my other friends. And I feel like you do get me. I was right; that's a better feeling than having so many fake friends. But I didn't count on it being so terrifying."

Josh cocked his head. "Why is it terrifying?"

"Because you do know more about me than anyone else. You're basically seeing the real me. And letting someone get so close to me? It's just terrifying."

"Because of the way your dad left?" Josh asked.

Drake flinched. "Don't analyze me. I have a therapist for that."

"Sorry," Josh said softly. Then, "Drake, it's not like I'm going to run off and tell everyone everything you tell me."

Drake chuckled. "That's almost exactly what I told myself. You're not that kind of person. You're really…nice," he finished lamely.

"Thanks," Josh replied dryly.

Drake shrugged helplessly. "I'm not very good at telling people I think they're awesome. Especially people I only really started getting to know six days earlier."

"So this happens to you a lot?" Josh asked.

"I give up!" Drake announced, totally frustrated.

Josh smiled. "Seriously Drake, thank you. For giving me a chance, and telling me--badly--that I'm awesome. It's kind of hard to believe that you'd even want to be friends, actually."

"I know," Drake said. "I was…kind of mean to you. And you were always really nice, even when I was totally snubbing you. All for the sake of being 'cool.'"

"Well, that extra thirty percent was a big deal, right?" Josh said, still smiling. Drake took the smile to mean that Josh didn't hold that against him. "Really, it's okay."

"No it's not," Drake countered. "But I'll make it up to you?"

"Oh really? How are you going to do that?" Josh asked, raising an eyebrow.

Drake grinned back. "I have my ways," he purred.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Unexpected Places 5/?

Author: SP

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider and whoever else own everything.

Rating: K+

Pairing: it's complicated--one sided from both sides Drake/Josh?

Summary: Because of the evil Mrs. Hayfer, Drake is stuck doing a project with that dorky Josh Nichols. But it turns out to be not so bad after all…AU.  
Author's Notes: God, I struggled with this one. It's a tad shorter than the others, but that's okay, right?

"I have my ways," Drake purred.

"Oh, you do?" Josh replied with a smile.

"I do."

"So what are they?"

Drake was about to answer, but something stopped him. It suddenly occurred to him to wonder what he was doing. No, scratch that--he _knew_ what he was doing. He was flirting with Josh. But _why_ was he flirting with Josh? And wait a minute--_Josh was flirting with him too_. Drake felt like an idiot. Of _course_ Josh was flirting with him. Everything made sense now. Josh acting weird--jealous, Drake now realized--when Drake brought up girls. Josh and Mindy both emphasizing that _she_ didn't have a crush on Drake--that meant that _someone_ did. And Josh's "I highly doubt that y-he's--", followed by _relief_ when Drake asked, "He?" suddenly added up too. Josh had been terrified that Drake would catch on to the aborted word, and was relieved that he hadn't (well, until now). It was all falling into place.

Josh didn't just have a crush on a guy.

He had a crush on Drake.

"Drake?" Josh asked, when Drake didn't say anything for a few minutes. "Earth to Drake."

"You should leave," Drake blurted out.

Josh looked confused. "What? Why?"

"It's getting late," Drake said quickly, grasping for a plausible reason to get Josh to leave.

Now Josh looked confused _and_ hurt. "But…it's not even nine o'clock yet."

Drake shook his head. "I know--look, could you just--I have to--please leave."

Josh, biting his lower lip, got to his feet. "Okay. See you soon."

"Right," Drake said shortly. "See you."

Josh sighed and exited the room.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, Drake leapt to his feet and started pacing. "Okay, so Josh has a crush on me," he said aloud. "That's okay, I can handle that much. I can even handle him flirting with me. But…" But he couldn't handle his own flirting in return.

Drake had had his share of crushes before. A couple of them had even been on guys. But he had never thought about those crushes too much. Well, except for the one he had on Devon Malone, but that was a special case. He guessed he was bisexual, but it really wasn't something he dwelled on.

Now, it looked like he might have to.

It wasn't that it was Josh. As averse to Josh as Drake had been only a week ago, he genuinely liked him now. And besides, he'd never _dis_liked him.And it wasn't that Josh wasn't attractive--he was totally cute. The problem wasn't even that he _was_ a he.

There were a few more things that suddenly made sense now--starting with Drake's flirting. Which, Drake discovered, thinking back over the past few days, hadn't been limited to tonight. He'd started in flirting and making suggestive comments the very first day they worked together. It could have been written off as just the way Drake was. But that would have been a lie. And so, Drake concluded, the problem was that maybe he liked Josh back.

Sure, Drake had had crushes on guys before. There were probably more guys than Josh that had had crushes on him. But none had ever been mutual.

And the idea of being in a relationship with another guy? It was absolutely terrifying, even more than the idea of someone really knowing him. Drake had no experience with that. He was absolutely clueless about how to be with a guy. And no, not how to _be_ with a guy, although he didn't know a whole lot about that either. Just the ordinary day to day of being with a guy. And then, as if it wasn't enough to think about what to do in the relationship, he'd have to think about what the world was thinking. Even though people weren't quite as hateful anymore, gay people still got a lot of crap. But if the relationship was kept a secret, that wouldn't matter. That led to the pressure of a secret romance and keeping it secret and just acting like friends in public when really what he'd want to do would be--It was really way too much to think about, let alone deal with.

"Hold it!" Drake told himself. "Just because we have a mutual crush, that doesn't mean we have to have a relationship." He sat down again, breathing hard from his frantic pacing, and ran his hands through his hair.

Did he _want_ to have a relationship? As scary as it was, there was also something appealing about it. But wait a minute--did _Josh_ want to have a relationship? Maybe, but how was he supposed to know?

He needed to talk to Josh, he realized. But he'd probably made him angry again by basically kicking him out. Or if not angry, then made him unhappy. But in _that_ case, he needed to talk to him more than he had before. And apologize.

Drake really wasn't looking forward to that conversation. Nonetheless, he scooped up his cell phone, checking the time (nine thirteen, it wasn't too late) before dialing Josh's number.

"Hi Drake," Josh answered on the second ring, sounding uncertain.

"I'm sorry," Drake said immediately. "I shouldn't have kicked you out. Um, we need to talk."

Josh sighed. "Yeah, we do."

"Is it too late for me to come over?" Drake asked.

"No," Josh said slowly. "Do you want to?"

"Yes," Drake answered honestly, after considering it, "But I don't just want to."

Josh sounded uncertain again. "What else then?"

"I think I have to."

"You don't have to do any--"

Drake shook his head, although he knew Josh couldn't see it. "Yeah, I do. We have to talk in person. This isn't a conversation for the phone."

Josh remained quiet for a moment, before saying, "All right. See you in a few minutes, then."

"Right." Drake closed his phone. And then, both to avoid questions and just because he could, he snuck out his bedroom window, rather than going downstairs and out the front door.

He took a deep breath and then walked down the street toward Josh's house, not exactly sure what the outcome of the upcoming conversation would be--or what he wanted it to be.


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Unexpected Places 6/?

Author: SP

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider and whoever else own everything.

Rating: K+

Summary: Because of the evil Mrs. Hayfer, Drake is stuck doing a project with that dorky Josh Nichols. But it turns out to be not so bad after all…AU.

Special Note: Tons and tons of thanks to folkloricfeel (justinebeckoning for you FFN types) for the awesome and helpful beta. Without her, this chapter would not be half as good.  
Author's Notes: Slight changes to chapter four. Instead of Thursday, it's now Saturday. They've been at it for six days, not four. Only because I was annoyed with my timeline.

There's something in here that reveals that Josh is a fellow slasher/fic reader. Yay if you know what it is.

As Drake neared Josh's house, he saw a curtain move in an upstairs window and a face look out. He guessed it was Josh's bedroom and Josh's face, but he was too far away to tell for sure. He sighed. He still didn't know how to go about having this conversation, and he was still worried about all the possible consequences.

Drake looked up at the window again, but the face was gone and the light was out. He wondered about it for a second, before Josh's front door opened and someone who was unmistakably Josh stepped outside, holding the door open. He just stood there on the top step, silently, watching as Drake drew closer.

When Drake reached the bottom of the stairs, he licked his lips nervously, then looked up at Josh. He didn't know what to say.

"My dad's out," Josh began. "He won't be back for another half an hour. We can talk in the kitchen. Or the living room."

Hoping it didn't sound as bad as it could, Drake replied, "Actually, could we go somewhere more private? I don't know how long we'll be, but just in case."

Josh nodded slowly. "Okay. Then follow me, we can go up to my room."

Drake followed Josh through the house and up to the second floor, not reassured at all. It wasn't lost on him that their conversation so far had sounded strained and sort of formal, like they hadn't spent the past six days becoming steadily closer. He wondered if that meant Josh was angry or upset. Or both.

Josh pushed open a door at the top of the stairs and flicked on the light. The room was furnished pretty simply, with a bed, bureau, bedside table, desk and an armchair. And bookshelves--two of them. It was very Josh, Drake thought, especially with the many awards hung on the wall, mixed in with posters of musicians and various movies. He smiled inwardly when he saw the framed picture of Oprah Winfrey sitting on the desk, beside a laptop. That seemed like an _extremely_ Josh thing to have, somehow.

Josh gestured to the armchair. Drake sat, while Josh retrieved the desk chair and moved it opposite the armchair, but not before surreptitiously turning the Oprah picture facedown.

Drake opened his mouth, not sure what was going to come out. But before anything could, Josh beat him to it.

"Drake, I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry? I'm the one who freaked out and told you to leave for no good reason."

Josh closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "It wasn't for no reason. You figured it out, didn't you?"

"I figured lots of things out," Drake replied carefully.

"Like what, that you hate me?" Josh asked, opening his eyes again.

Drake leaned forward. "Josh. I do not hate you. Yeah, I realized that you have a crush on me--" Josh started to say something, but Drake continued, not letting him speak. "And I realized that you were flirting with me--"

This time, Drake didn't manage to talk over Josh. "I was that obvious? I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Drake said firmly. "And I don't think you were that obvious. Because…" This was it, Drake realized. This was the scary part. "…Because I didn't realize that you were flirting until I realized that _I_ was flirting. And um, had been the whole time."

"I thought I was imagining that," Josh said quietly, looking down at his hands.

Drake shook his head. "No, that was definitely me. But--"

"But you didn't mean anything and you just flirt with everyone," Josh said resignedly.

Drake frowned. "Hey!" he answered, somewhat offended.

"Sorry. But it's true, right? It didn't mean anything."

"I don't--no. It's not true."

At that, Josh finally looked up. "So…what are you saying?"

It was Drake's turn to look away. He shrugged.

"Drake." Drake looked back at Josh. "What are you saying?" Josh repeated softly.

"I don't know. Just…Josh, when I realized you were flirting with me, and I realized that _I_ was flirting with _you_, I just freaked out. And…God Josh, you don't understand--or maybe you do--but this is just…scary. I figured out that I maybe…not maybe…"

Josh frowned. "What? I don't understand."

Drake shook his head. This conversation wasn't going well at all. How could he possibly convey everything he'd felt earlier that night to Josh in an understandable way? Especially when he still didn't understand it himself.

An idea entered Drake's head, and before he could tell himself it was a stupid one, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Josh's.

It was a chaste kiss. Barely there contact; lips to lips, no tongue. It only lasted a few seconds. But when Drake pulled away, Josh was left stunned and speechless.

Finally, he managed to stammer out, "Wh-what was that?"

"A kiss?" Drake suggested.

Dazedly, Josh nodded. "Yeah, I got that…what was it _for_?"

"I don't know?"

"Well, I can die now. My life is complete," Josh said. "Or it will be when I get an explanation."

Drake blushed a little, shifted his gaze. "I don't know when that will be."

"Drake," Josh said again. "I think I deserve an explanation."

"I know, but I don't have one. Not that will make sense. I already tried, remember? I'm no good with words."

"That's not true," Josh contradicted him, leaning forward to make his point. "Your song lyrics are amazing."

"Well, that's different," Drake answered.

Josh raised an eyebrow and started speaking. Drake wasn't paying attention. That eyebrow thing was way too interesting. "…and you're focusing on my eyebrow, not my words, aren't you?"

Drake jumped. "Yes. Sorry."

Josh shook his head tolerantly. "I said, how is that different? I'd say you have be even better with words to write songs than to speak."

"I don't think so. "

"Let's agree to disagree, then," Josh suggested. Then his expression turned serious again. "Can you just answer one question for me?"

Drake nodded slowly.

Josh nodded too. "Okay. That kiss--was it just because you know I like you, and you were curious about kissing a boy?"

"_No_!" Drake practically yelled. Then he lowered his voice and continued, "No. I wouldn't do that."

Josh looked at Drake appraisingly. Then he nodded again. "No, you wouldn't. So why did you kiss me?"

Drake froze, unsure of the answer himself.

"That's two questions," Drake answered finally, standing up and starting to pace.

"You're avoiding the question," Josh said, exasperated. "Can't you just answer it?"

Drake wheeled around and threw up his hands. "Why do people ever kiss other people, Josh?"

"For lots of reasons," Josh replied.

Drake resumed his pacing. "Well, there you go."

"You really don't know, do you?" Josh asked suddenly.

Drake flopped back into the armchair on his next pass by. "I…maybe. I…I thought a lot, after I--you left. But I didn't come up with a good answer. Just that I needed to talk to you." He snorted. "I haven't done much talking, though, have I?"

Josh reached out and put a hand on Drake's arm. "Maybe you could explain what you thought about?"

"I don't know." Josh just gave him a look. "All right, all right. Lots of things. Girls. Guys. You. Flirting. Relationships. Lots of stuff."

"Are you bisexual?" Josh asked gently.

Drake shrugged helplessly. "Maybe. I think so. I don't know. Yes."

Josh sat back in his chair. "So, what, are you going through some sort of a crisis?"

"What? No, I'm…a crisis?"

Josh blushed slightly. "Never mind." He sighed. "So, would it be fair to say that you're confused?"

"Didn't I say that?"

With a small smile, Josh shook his head. "No, not really."

"Oh. Well then, I'm confused."

"What are you confused about? Your sexuality?"

Drake paused to think about it. _Was_ he confused about his sexuality? No, not really, he decided. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, but it was pretty clear. What he was confused about was Josh, and his liking Josh. Because yeah, he'd liked guys before--but it had always been because they were hot, or talented, or both.

But Josh was different, somehow. It wasn't that he wasn't either of those things, he was--although Drake would definitely use the word "cute" instead of hot, and his talents weren't the kind that Drake was usually drawn to--it was something else.

And then, he realized the difference between Josh and those other guys--and the girls, even. He'd gotten to know Josh. Josh had gotten to know him. And he wasn't just attracted to the outer, physical parts of Josh.

He was attracted to the inner, emotional parts of him too. There were definitely feelings involved, that hadn't ever been involved before.

__

That explained why it was so weird and scary.

"Oh man," Drake said aloud.

"What?" Josh asked.

Drake shook his head. "Oh man," he said again. "Josh, I--I'm kind of--"

"Freaking out again?" Josh suggested. "I can tell. _Was_ it that you're confused about your sexuality? Or should I not expect coherent words right now?"

"No." Then, realizing that in fact, that wasn't a coherent answer, Drake added, "To both."

"Well, I'll try talking to you anyway. Because I'm confused too. If you didn't kiss me out of curiosity, then why?"

Drake, defensive without knowing why, snapped, "You're smart. It's not that hard to figure out."

Josh looked hurt. "You don't have to snap."

Instantly, Drake regretted doing it. "I'm sorry. This is just…hard. And scary."

"It's okay." Josh was quiet for a moment, then continued, "The only reason I can see for you kissing me, aside from curiosity, is that, maybe, you like me too. But then I keep telling myself that that would never happen."

"Why wouldn't it?"

Josh shrugged. "Because I'm me."

"Well, maybe I…" Drake trailed off, suddenly unsure again.

Josh pressed, "Maybe you what?"

"Maybe I like you," Drake admitted in a whisper.

"Do you?" Josh whispered back, with an half-hopeful expression.

Drake nodded.

And then, suddenly, he was kissing Josh again, without knowing who started it, or really caring, because this one was a little less chaste, and it just felt…_right_.


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Unexpected Places 7/?

Author: SP

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider and whoever else own everything.

Rating: K+

Pairing: Drake/Josh

Summary: Because of the evil Mrs. Hayfer, Drake is stuck doing a project with that dorky Josh Nichols. But it turns out to be not so bad after all…AU.

Special Note: Thanks yet again to folkloricfeel/justinebeckoning for the look-over!

Author's Notes: Have I mentioned that I originally guessed I'd have three or four chapters?

When the kiss ended, Josh pulled away slowly. "So now what?" he asked softly.

Drake shook his head. "I don't know," he replied.

"Is that all you can say tonight?" Josh asked teasingly.

Drake shrugged self-consciously. "Sort of."

"It's okay you know," Josh said. "To be unsure, I mean."

Drake sighed. "Maybe for you. But I'm Drake. I'm not supposed to be unsure."

Josh frowned. "Just because you're Drake, that automatically makes it not okay for you to be unsure?"

"Well…yeah."

"Does that really make sense?" Josh asked reasonably.

"No…but neither does this," Drake admitted.

Josh laughed. "Oh, I know. It doesn't make much sense to me either."

"Why wouldn't it make sense to you?" Drake asked curiously. "Aren't you used to this by now?"

"Used to it?" Josh asked incredulously. "Drake, how often do you think this happens to me? It's not like I have guys of my dreams kissing me every day." Then he blushed.

Blushing himself, Drake clarified, "That's not what I meant. I meant the whole liking a guy thing."

Josh looked at Drake. "So that is what's bothering you."

"No, it's…not exactly. I just…" Drake sighed and fell silent. "I don't know," he said after a moment, again.

Josh didn't reply, just carefully studied Drake, apparently thinking. After a few minutes, Drake started fidgeting under the scrutiny. "Okay," he said finally. "Do you not know what's bothering you, or do you just not want to say?"

Drake shrugged.

Josh sighed. "Okay. So I'm going to ask again. What now?"

"I don't know, all right?" Drake said defensively. "There's pretty much one obvious answer, but I just…there are things that…" He shook his head wordlessly and looked away.

"Hey," Josh said, reaching over and tilting Drake's chin toward him. "If you don't want to be in a relationship with a guy, then I can understand that."

"It's not that. Or not _just_ that. It's because it's you."

Josh looked gobsmacked. "Oh. I see. I'm not 'cool' enough to date you, right?" Josh said bitterly.

Drake got up and started pacing, for the third time that night. "_No_. That's not it," he said firmly. "Josh, I swear. It's…I guess it's just…I've never…and maybe I could…and it scares me."

"You're being incoherent again," Josh pointed out.

Drake groaned. "I know. I'm sorry."

"And," Josh added with a small smile, "your pacing is making me dizzy."

"Sorry," Drake repeated, immediately sitting back down.

"It's okay," Josh answered. "Look, we're not getting anywhere with this. I'm getting more and more confused, and it looks like you might be too. Take some time to think about what you want. And for now…we can just go on with things the way they have been."

"I don't know if I want to," Drake mumbled.

"Then what _do_ you want?" Josh asked. "And if you say 'I don't know' one more time…"

"What happened to it being okay being unsure?"

Josh blew his cheeks out and shook his head. "It's still okay. This is just sort of frustrating."

"Sorry," Drake said, yet again. He took a deep breath. "Josh…I kind of do want a relationship. But I…I haven't ever really _had_ a real relationship. Y'know? So I don't know how it works."

Josh looked disbelieving. "Haven't you had like fifty girlfriends?"

"Seventy-two," Drake admitted ruefully. "But none of them really…meant anything, exactly."

Josh suddenly looked as though he understood something. "And I do mean something?" he asked cautiously.

Drake ducked his head. "I think so," he whispered.

And it was worth admitting, Drake realized, even though it was the most terrifying thing he'd done so far, to see Josh's smile. It lit up his whole face, like no one had ever made him quite so happy. Drake was happy too, just knowing he could have that effect on someone.

So he kissed Josh again.

"Is _that_ what's been bothering you?" Josh asked, a little breathlessly, when the kiss ended.

Drake nodded. "Yeah."

"Is it really so hard for you to admit that I might actually matter to you?"

"I don't…I don't want to mess this up," Drake muttered. "It's never mattered before. Now it does. If we did date, and had a bad break-up, then I don't just lose someone to make-out with. I lose a friend too. And I--" He stopped talking abruptly, feeling like he'd already said too much.

Josh covered Drake's hand on the armrest with his own. "And you what?" he asked.

"I…I feel like there are possibilities here, between us, for more than just…I don't know."

Josh smiled that smile again. "Yeah, you do know. And I think I do, too."

Hesitantly, Drake returned the smile. "Um…so…"

"So, do you feel like taking the risk? I think it would be worth it."

Drake swallowed. He had a feeling that if he said yes, nothing would be the same again, which was yet another reason this was scary. But he'd have Josh, and somehow that canceled out some of the scariness.

"Drake?"

He nodded. "Yes. Yeah. Let's do it." He winced. "I mean, um, let's give us a chance."

Josh giggled, probably at Drake's unfortunate choice of words. Then, clearly trying to get serious again, he asked, "Are you sure?"

"No," Drake answered honestly. "But sometimes uncertainty is a good thing."

"And you said you're not good with words," Josh muttered. Then, he said aloud, "I cannot believe this. I really can't. I'm not dreaming, am I?"

Drake laughed. "No. You're not."

"Are you sure?"

"I could pinch you," Drake offered.

Josh squeaked and leaned back. "No, I'm good, thank--" CRASH. He'd leaned too far and tipped the chair over.

Drake jumped up and crouched beside him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Better than fine, really. And I'm pretty sure I'm awake, now. Ouch." Josh picked himself up, righted the chair, and then sat in the recently vacated armchair.

Drake, reassured, mock-glared at Josh for taking his place before perching on the arm. "This has been a crazy week."

"Yeah it has," Josh agreed.

"But in a good way, mostly."

"Only mostly?" Josh asked, with raised eyebrow.

"…Okay, you so need to teach me how to do that."

Josh laughed and then tugged at Drake's arm. He fell into Josh's lap, but he didn't mind much, especially when Josh's mouth covered his.


	8. Epilogue

Title: Unexpected Places 8/7 (epilogue)

Author: SP

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider and whoever else own everything.

Rating: K+

Pairing: Drake/Josh

Summary: Because of the evil Mrs. Hayfer, Drake is stuck doing a project with that dorky Josh Nichols. But it turns out to be not so bad after all…AU.

Author's Notes: THE END! This is actually a big day for me. This is only my second finished chaptered fic ever, plus it's my longest, clocking in at 11,156 words!

Four weeks later, Drake and Josh sat on the couch in Drake's room, Josh's arm wrapped around Drake, Drake leaning against Josh, settled quite happily in the crook of his arm. _The Blues Brothers_ played on the screen. Although both boys had agreed that it was one of their favorite movies, neither of them was really watching it.

"You are amazing," Drake told Josh, not for the first time. More like the twentieth time. And that was just counting that afternoon, to say nothing of the times before that day.

By this repetition, it was pretty clear that Josh was used to hearing it. Rather than blush and smile, which had been his reaction the first couple times, he rolled his eyes good-naturedly and removed his arm from around Drake's shoulders. "You know, you're lessening the impact by saying it every five seconds."

"Whatever. It's true," Drake replied. "I don't know _how_ you convinced Mrs. Hayfer to give me a B plus."

Josh shrugged. "You deserve it. So I just told her so, and she agreed."

Drake looked skeptically at Josh.

"…Okay, and I told her about our massive spelling, grammar and punctuation correcting sessions," Josh admitted. "So once she realized that I'd put a lot of work into helping you get a good grade, she gave you one."

Drake laughed. "I believe that! I bet she wanted to raise your grade too, for putting up with me for a month."

"To what? I already have an A," Josh answered cheekily.

Drake stuck his tongue out, then shrugged and grinned. "Well, I'll take my B plus! My mom is going to love you for this, you know. I haven't gotten a B since I was like twelve."

"Your mom already loves me," Josh pointed out.

"True. But that's because you're lovable. Like a puppy."

Josh shook his head with a small smile, and then returned his attention to the movie.

Drake followed suit…for all of two minutes.

"So…Joshie," Drake singsonged, with an enticing smile.

Josh turned to look at him. "So, Drakie," he mimicked, his smile a teasing one.

Drake swatted Josh's arm, then resumed his alluring expression. "Joshie," he repeated, a bit more seriously.

"Yes?" Josh asked.

"I really don't think I've managed to show you how much I appreciate what you did."

Josh smiled slowly. "Oh, you don't, huh?"

Drake shook his head. "Nope. So I should," he added with a wide grin.

"And how are you going to do that?" Josh asked.

Drake leaned closer. "Like this," he murmured, with his lips barely a centimeter away from Josh's. Then he kissed him, slowly and thoroughly.

"Mm," Josh said quietly, pulling back slightly. "Well, I guess I won't stop you from showing your appreciation."

"You deserve it," Drake replied, purposely echoing Josh's earlier words.

And then there was no more need for talking for awhile. Two tongues exploring two mouths, two sets of hands exploring two bodies and the two of them pressed together on the couch said enough.


End file.
